Private Jet London to Mykonos

Sixty minutes on the ramp, and then the aircraft has to go

Through the peak, roughly mid-June to mid-September, general aviation aircraft are required to clear the Mykonos apron within an hour of landing. Overnight parking is not available at all in those weeks. The aeroplane drops you, lifts off again and waits at another Greek field until your return date, which is normal practice rather than a problem, but it does mean your car needs to be on the ramp when the door opens rather than fetched from a car park. The restriction has a long history here: a two-hour limit was first imposed for the 2014 season, and a NOTAM issued for the summer of 2016 cut it to a single hour. It has governed the island ever since.

Why the runway matters more here than the cabin does

Published figures for the Mykonos runway differ between sources, and the shorter of them would put real limits on what a heavy jet can lift out of the island with fuel aboard. Light and midsize types are untroubled either way, which is why they fly this route in the numbers they do. Large and long-range cabins do operate here, and where a client wants one we confirm the performance for that specific aircraft with the operator before quoting rather than assuming it from a published length. On a sector of three and a half hours the larger cabin buys less than it would across an ocean, so the question is worth asking rather than taking for granted.

Two caveats on those figures

– These are ordinary summer figures. Late July and August sit above them, and in those weeks a slot rather than a price is what actually decides whether the trip happens;

– Air Passenger Duty is charged per passenger leaving the United Kingdom and sits inside the figures. It applies to the outbound leg only, not to the flight home from Greece.

In July the London end matters less than the Greek one

Under ten minutes separates the closest field from the furthest in the air, so nothing about the crossing turns on which one you use. What decides a summer booking is the arrival slot at Mykonos, and that is negotiated first with the departure fitted around it. Where a client has flexibility, Luton and Farnborough hold aircraft options longest because their resident fleets are deepest, and Northolt runs short earliest because its civil movements are capped. If the day starts in the City and the aircraft turns out to be a midsize, London City works beautifully; where it does not, we say so at the enquiry.

The runway, and why we confirm rather than assume

Published lengths for the single runway at Mykonos vary between sources, and the difference matters at the top of the fleet. Turboprops, light jets and midsize cabins operate here without any question at all. Heavier types do fly to the island, but a short runway and a warm afternoon both reduce what an aircraft can lift, so a large cabin leaving with full tanks may face a payload limit. Rather than quote a figure and hope, we take the specific aircraft to the operator and get the performance confirmed for your date and your passenger count. On a three and a half hour sector that conversation costs nothing and settles the matter.

Three things the ground rules mean in practice

– Tell us the villa address rather than just the island. The north takes forty minutes from the airport and the town takes ten, and with an hour on the clock that difference decides how the transfer is set up;

– A day trip to Mykonos is unusual. The aircraft cannot sit and wait for you, so it flies away and comes back, which makes the arithmetic different from a mainland day return;

– Give us firm dates as early as you can. The slot is what we secure first, and everything about the trip is arranged around the one we are given.

The nearby islands, and why they come up

Mykonos sits in the middle of the Cyclades, and several neighbours are minutes away by air. Syros is nineteen nautical miles, Naxos twenty-one, Paros twenty-seven and Santorini sixty-three. Where a trip takes in more than one island, or where Mykonos itself is full, these become part of the plan rather than a fallback. A yacht moored off Mykonos can just as easily be joined from Paros, and the flying between them is measured in minutes. Tell us the whole itinerary and we will work out which island the aircraft should actually land on.

In August the slot comes before the aircraft and before the price

On most routes we find an aeroplane and then arrange the landing. Here the order reverses through the peak, because a confirmed aircraft on a date with no slot is worth nothing at all. So we go after the slot first and build the rest around what we are given, which is why firm dates matter more on this island than anywhere else we fly. Book four to six weeks out for a July or August date and the trip is straightforward. Come to us ten days before an August Saturday and we will be honest about what is left, which may mean Athens and a helicopter rather than a landing on Mykonos itself.

Four levers you control

– Give the dates early. On this island the slot is the scarce thing, and securing it shapes everything that follows;

– Move a fortnight if you can. Early July or the first half of September gives you the same island for meaningfully less;

– Avoid the Saturday. Villa changeovers put every arrival into the same window, and a Friday or Sunday is easier to place and cheaper to book;

– Ask about Athens. Where the island is full, the mainland plus a helicopter gets you there on the day you wanted.

How to read those figures

– Each price is for the whole aircraft rather than per seat. A Legacy 600 at 16,500 pounds carrying thirteen comes out around thirteen hundred a head for a three and a half hour flight;

– Set each line beside the same class in the price table above. A Citation XLS+ at 10,800 against 19,000 for a fresh charter is the saving in plain terms;

– A leg into Mykonos still needs a slot. The saving is on the aircraft rather than on the landing, so the same booking timeline applies.

Where a charter earns its keep on this route

Three hours come back to you across the journey, and on an August Saturday rather more than that. The Mykonos terminal in peak week handles the whole island at once, and stepping off into a waiting car instead is the difference most clients notice first. Beyond that, a group arriving together starts the holiday on board rather than reassembling at a transfer desk, a fortnight of luggage goes on at the steps, and the neighbouring islands open up in a way the ferry timetable never allows. For a party of six or eight in season the arithmetic closes further than the headline figures suggest.

The paperwork, in order

Microchip first and rabies vaccination second, with three weeks between the jab and the day you land. Then an Animal Health Certificate from an Official Veterinarian dated no more than ten days before you enter the European Union, and that document covers return journeys for the following six months. The tapeworm treatment governs only the flight home to Britain: a Greek vet gives it between one and five days before departure and records the date and the product. Nothing is required on the way into Greece.

Three points particular to a Greek island

– Heat is the whole of the ground problem. A Cycladic apron at two in the afternoon is punishing for a dog, so the transfer is timed for the cooler hours wherever the slot allows it;

– Veterinary practices on Mykonos are few and busy in season, so the appointment for the journey home wants booking before you travel rather than on arrival;

– If the trip continues to another island by boat, the ferry operators set their own rules about animals, which differ from the aircraft and want checking separately.

Related pages

Each end of this corridor in detail: private jet charter from London, private jet charter to Mykonos and the wider Greece guide.

The rest of the islands and the mainland: Santorini, Athens, Paros, Rhodes, Corfu, Zakynthos and Kos.

Departing from London: Biggin Hill, London City, Stansted, RAF Northolt, Farnborough, Luton and Oxford.

And also: whatever is loose on empty legs today, plus the whole of our pet travel guide.